Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-05-12
Country Life,

am prepared 10 say that country
life is not more devoid of culture and
enjoyment than is city life. / say this
after living many years on farm, five
years in city of 10000 inhabitants,
and four years in Il city of above 400,-
600 inhabitants. That our country
homes are bare and cheerless, that our
country life is barren and devoid of rec
reation in many cases, do not deny;
but that as a whole our country homes
and country lives are in this respect in
ferior to city homes and city lives,
know to be false; and the statements
about the barren, cherries life of the
farmer, often found in print, are base
and foundationless libels.
We need not be surprised to hear
these statements mado by city people.
Most often they are the result of ignor-
ance. People who have spent their
lives in crowded factories and miserable
tcnements; who know no more of coun-
try life than mule does of ethics; who
rea6 nothing beyond the gossip, scandal
and murder sensations of the daily
paper and the vile slush of the blood
thunder-and-corruption ten-cent novel;
who get their notions of drama from
Wild Bill performance their religious
ideas from Sam Jones, and their cul-
turc from the bill boards-these arc the
ones who most frequently deplore the
barrenness and sterility of the lives led
by country people.
If city people had more culture and
enjoyment than country people, l
should know it. When l first went to
Che city lived with working people;
as my affairs prospered and my income
increased, I lived with merchants fam
lilies. and finally among people, though
not the wealthiest, yet of wealth and
leisure. Since leaving the city have
mixed much with city people. Hence
have seen home lite in the city in all
its grades and phases. found that
the daily paper and a few light novels
constituted the entire reading matter of
nearly every family. True, there were
exceptions, some people of very high
culture, of solid attainmcnts; but COM
pared with the country they are rare.
l can readily believe what lecturers
will tell you, that they find the most
solid audiences in the country; that
polish will pass in the city, while brain
is demanded by the rural audience;
that while the city audience best ap-
preciatcs weak wit the country people
ask for thought. The publishers of the
leading magazines will tell you that
their larger reading constituency is in
the country.
The life of the farmer and of his
family is represented to be one unceas-
ing round of toll But this is not true.
City people work harder than country
people. The clerk in the retail store,
and the majority of book-keepers, work
longer hours than the farm hand. Take
it the year around, and the mechanic
works more hours than the farmer.
True at some seasons, work sixteen
hours per day on the farm. But dur
ing other seasons have much leasure.
The man who works ten hours day in
the city must be up at $50 to get his
oil al ] of two n,;,.s awor m hy y. w. md n, FIJI t;ll ~
gets home at night and his supper eaten,
| it will be nearly eight. And / yet re-
% whom ,;rst @ rent ~ ny tho IL s.uA a;t,. ,hne ,e
h, h,.o,,0ht r v rost ne ~ a's Wa. l.
@ samt o' @ pI tpa ,ho hs no S.'a ,us' '''o WV
I Tho ~ +r"r,,a r' @ = M tlat .'e tl,a ,., ~ ou,,
to A. ta,, ..,"' 'n In' az w. .no Wy